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In fact, you never saw the skating of figure eights, only saw it reported. Yes, I was tortured years ago. Now, with the results known, I can blab the results so nobody will watch them in our house.

I am no fan of sports that aren't time or measured. Judged. Meh.

we have gone over this in the past but events that are decided by a judges score are not sports anyway.

Also, I really dislike these events that lead the viewer to believe that the participant is really attractive, only to come to find out that the participant is around 4 feet tall and has massive quads.

we have gone over this in the past but events that are decided by a judges score are not sports anyway.

Also, I really dislike these events that lead the viewer to believe that the participant is really attractive, only to come to find out that the participant is around 4 feet tall and has massive quads.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And there's no accounting for taste.

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"I think it was King Benjamin who said 'you sorry ass shitbags who have no skills that the market values also have an obligation to have the attitude that if one day you do in fact win the PowerBall Lottery that you will then impart of your substance to those without.'"
- Goatnapper'96

Our first day with no medals whatsoever. Mancuso bombed in the downhill. We need to identify young talent better so we don't have to rely upon the old and over the hill.

Man, you are a whiner. You said above you have been watching the Olympics for 40+ years. Surely then you remember that until very recently the USA couldn't compete in mosts of the winter events. The alpine, cross country, and sled events have always been dominated by Europe. Introduction of freestyle skiing and snowboarding helped North America a lot in the overall medal count, but the USA has also closed the gap in the traditional winter sports. To complain that we "bombed" in the downhill is silly. It's the most dangerous unpredictible race in alpine skiing. Traditional powerhouses "bomb" in downhill at the olympics all the time. Austria has more total olympic medals in skiing than any country in history, but they just won their first gold in 12 years.

I think when it comes down to it, it is difficult to attract young athletic talent in the United States to niche sports that are very expensive to pursue. The fact that we are now competing and winning medals in alpine, cross country and even sleds over the past few Olympics shows that the U.S. teams have gotten much better at recruiting/developing talent.

Man, you are a whiner. You said above you have been watching the Olympics for 40+ years. Surely then you remember that until very recently the USA couldn't compete in mosts of the winter events. The alpine, cross country, and sled events have always been dominated by Europe. Introduction of freestyle skiing and snowboarding helped North America a lot in the overall medal count, but the USA has also closed the gap in the traditional winter sports. To complain that we "bombed" in the downhill is silly. It's the most dangerous unpredictible race in alpine skiing. Traditional powerhouses "bomb" in downhill at the olympics all the time. Austria has more total olympic medals in skiing than any country in history, but they just won their first gold in 12 years.

I think when it comes down to it, it is difficult to attract young athletic talent in the United States to niche sports that are very expensive to pursue. The fact that we are now competing and winning medals in alpine, cross country and even sleds over the past few Olympics shows that the U.S. teams have gotten much better at recruiting/developing talent.

We have been erratic in the alpine events, as we won some in 1960, and again in 1968 with Billy the Kid when Jean Claude Killy did the remarkable. (My parents told me about 1960 and I remember the fuzzy black and white of Billy the Kid). We had the kids from Vermont during the seventies, and the Mahres during eighties where we fared okay in Sarajevo and Lillehammer (90s). I believe we even had some success in Calgary. Torino was okay as well. (this is from memory so I might have dates mixed up).

No in alpine this is one of our worst starts. Perhaps Shiffrin will shine.

Nordic, except for Bill Koch in 72 in Austria, has seen a dearth of success. He introduced the skating technique. Before that it had been since the thirties IIRC.

Sledding had traditionally gone to Eastern Bloc countries or Switzerland or Austria. But in large part that was due to a lack of training facilities or money invested in the sleds.

We have more people who ski that the entire population of Switzerland, so it shouldn't be that hard to find adequate ski talent.

I was thinking something similar last night while watching women's biathlon. Apparently the biathlon is the only winter Olympic event in which the us has never won a medal, or so they said on TV. The biathlon consists of two things... Skiing and shooting a gun. America can't find people who can ski and shoot guns???

i can somewhat understand our lack of success in luge. Despite our population base, we lack the facilities across the country for kids to train and be exposed early on. In Germany, someone would have to travel far less and for much cheaper to access a track for training.

but biathlon??? And skiing in general? I don't understand why we aren't better at these sports.

I was thinking something similar last night while watching women's biathlon. Apparently the biathlon is the only winter Olympic event in which the us has never won a medal, or so they said on TV. The biathlon consists of two things... Skiing and shooting a gun. America can't find people who can ski and shoot guns???

i can somewhat understand our lack of success in luge. Despite our population base, we lack the facilities across the country for kids to train and be exposed early on. In Germany, someone would have to travel far less and for much cheaper to access a track for training.

but biathlon??? And skiing in general? I don't understand why we aren't better at these sports.

Makes sense to me. These sports a big big deal in Northern Europe and therefore attract top athletes. Top US athletes are drawn to other things.

"Socialism is not bad IMHO" - byu71

So that's what you call me. You know, that or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing.

Makes sense to me. These sports a big big deal in Northern Europe and therefore attract top athletes. Top US athletes are drawn to other things.

This is what I was getting at. The options available to top athletes combined with the expense of pursuing winter olympic sports in the U.S. pushes our top athletic talent to non-olympic sports most of the time.

I was thinking something similar last night while watching women's biathlon. Apparently the biathlon is the only winter Olympic event in which the us has never won a medal, or so they said on TV. The biathlon consists of two things... Skiing and shooting a gun. America can't find people who can ski and shoot guns???

i can somewhat understand our lack of success in luge. Despite our population base, we lack the facilities across the country for kids to train and be exposed early on. In Germany, someone would have to travel far less and for much cheaper to access a track for training.

but biathlon??? And skiing in general? I don't understand why we aren't better at these sports.

This should be a natural for our special forces athletes, which are the competitors which the Eastern Bloc historically used to win this type of competition. Word has it the Scandinavian countries may have done the same.

We should be able to generate enough from our military forces to win one little medal.

This is what I was getting at. The options available to top athletes combined with the expense of pursuing winter olympic sports in the U.S. pushes our top athletic talent to non-olympic sports most of the time.

And with the billion or so dollars doled out to the USOC we should make it easier for kids who want that. It's not as if kids in Germany don't have other options. Most grow up wanting to be soccer stars.

This is what I was getting at. The options available to top athletes combined with the expense of pursuing winter olympic sports in the U.S. pushes our top athletic talent to non-olympic sports most of the time.

This might explain why the us does so well at the less expensive summer events such as table tennis and badminton, which are not only inexpensive but seem to be dominated by gangly people that weigh around 110 pounds.

And with the billion or so dollars doled out to the USOC we should make it easier for kids who want that. It's not as if kids in Germany don't have other options. Most grow up wanting to be soccer stars.

Doled out?

The only government funds directed toward the USOC since it came into its current existence under the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 came in the form of a $10 million appropriation from Congress in 1981 to stave off bankruptcy after the United States boycotted the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow, and as much as $40 million in 2008 for Paralympic support for disabled veterans of the U.S. armed forces through 2012.

This might explain why the us does so well at the less expensive summer events such as table tennis and badminton, which are not only inexpensive but seem to be dominated by gangly people that weigh around 110 pounds.

Some countries just good at certain sports. It's probably a combination of genetics and cultural importance of the specific sports. Kenyans and Ethiopians dominate distance running. Jamaicans disproportionately rule the sprints. China seems to have conquered the backyard bbq raquet sports.

Edit: I will add that to a country like China, it's all about the overall medal count. They don't care if it is in synchronized aquatic horse ballet or the marquee events. They want to pad their overall count to demonstrate dominance. Therefore they have no problem sinking government money into raquet sports and every other odd niche event to identify talent and train them to win. The US will never do that. The interest isn't there for high level competition in most of those sports and the government wouldn't fund the training programs.

Some countries just good at certain sports. It's probably a combination of genetics and cultural importance of the specific sports. Kenyans and Ethiopians dominate distance running. Jamaicans disproportionately rule the sprints. China seems to have conquered the backyard bbq raquet sports.

Shani Davis just bombed out in his specialty, the 1000 m. , eighth place. So Bode finished eighth, Mancuso did, Shani finished eighth, and S. White finished fourth. Yikes. It appears the US will be completely skunked in the long track speedskating. I don't believe that has happened in my lifetime. Heather Richardson in the 1000 will be the last refuge of the US in speedskating.

I was thinking something similar last night while watching women's biathlon. Apparently the biathlon is the only winter Olympic event in which the us has never won a medal, or so they said on TV. The biathlon consists of two things... Skiing and shooting a gun. America can't find people who can ski and shoot guns???

i can somewhat understand our lack of success in luge. Despite our population base, we lack the facilities across the country for kids to train and be exposed early on. In Germany, someone would have to travel far less and for much cheaper to access a track for training.

but biathlon??? And skiing in general? I don't understand why we aren't better at these sports.

There is a world class biathlon course up at West Yellowstone, the course is skiable six months out of the year, the problem is the number of kids to draw from within a fifty mile radius is very small and out of that pool if you put gave them the option of a snowboard or x-country skis they will choose the board 99% of the time. The number of skiiers is growing, our course in town is seeing more and more action and a small hardcore group is starting to develop. One day one of these parents will have a child who is gifted physically and will follow there parents into the sport but it may take another generation for this to happen. Alaska is starting to produce more and more skiiers and there has always been a small hardcore group up in the northeast. Someday we may get there but we have a long way to go to catch the Norwegians.

It appears the US will be completely skunked in the long track speedskating. I don't believe that has happened in my lifetime. Heather Richardson in the 1000 will be the last refuge of the US in speedskating.

Consulted wikipedia and we were last skunked in 1984. Speaking of speed skating, does anyone else think it is weird that the 500 m competition is the total time from two 500 m races? That seems really odd to me. It's the 500 m champion, not the 500 m + 500 m champion. If they did that in track for the 400 m everyone would say it was ridiculous.

Consulted wikipedia and we were last skunked in 1984. Speaking of speed skating, does anyone else think it is weird that the 500 m competition is the total time from two 500 m races? That seems really odd to me. It's the 500 m champion, not the 500 m + 500 m champion. If they did that in track for the 400 m everyone would say it was ridiculous.

That changed some time in the nineties or early 21st century. It has been that way for a while in World Cup races but only recently for the Olympics. Dan Jansen didn't race two 500m races to win his eventual gold in Albertville I believe it was.

Richardson is a favorite in the 1000 so we may avoid that ignominy but so was Davis. We held our trials close to the Olympics at the fast track in Kearns. The Sochi track is very slow.

That changed some time in the nineties or early 21st century. It has been that way for a while in World Cup races but only recently for the Olympics. Dan Jansen didn't race two 500m races to win his eventual gold in Albertville I believe it was.

Richardson is a favorite in the 1000 so we may avoid that ignominy but so was Davis. We held our trials close to the Olympics at the fast track in Kearns. The Sochi track is very slow.

Everything seems to be slow in Sochi. It was frustrating to see no American win a half pipe medal but that was a complete crap shoot yesterday. The pipe was in horrible shape and it was almost pure luck to avoid the soft spots.

Everything seems to be slow in Sochi. It was frustrating to see no American win a half pipe medal but that was a complete crap shoot yesterday. The pipe was in horrible shape and it was almost pure luck to avoid the soft spots.

The IOC forgot to include "is this site capable of holding quality winter athletic competition?" in the selection criteria. There are so many great places to hold the winter olympics. Why take chances on a place like this?